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St. Paul's Union Depot has been rebuilt and remodeled many times

By
John Diers

MinnPost

April 02, 2013

The St Paul Union Depot Company was incorporated in 1879 by the railroads serving St. Paul. The company was created for the purpose of building and operating a single, jointly owned railroad passenger terminal. The first depot opened in 1881. It was destroyed by fire in 1884 and then rebuilt. The depot received an addition in a 1900-1901 remodeling project.

On October 3, 1913, fire struck again. The fire sped up plans for construction of a new depot to better provide for the city's growing passenger traffic. The nine owning railroads: the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Rock Island, Minneapolis & St. Louis, Milwaukee, Omaha, Burlington, Soo Line, and Chicago Great Western, agreed on a 15 million dollar price tag after a long dispute over the size and cost of the new depot. Charles Frost, who designed the Great Northern and Milwaukee Road depots in Minneapolis and was a nationally-known designer of railroad stations, was chosen as the architect. George J Grant Construction Company and Foley Brothers were the principal contractors. Work began in 1917.